Stephen Grobmyer, M.D., a UF associate professor of surgery and the Edward M. Copeland III Chair in Breast Cancer Research, is the American College of Surgeons’ 2012 Traveling Fellow to Japan.
Grobmyer traveled to Japan in April for a two-and-a-half-week trip to share his clinical, research and education perspectives on US healthcare with Japanese colleagues. During this time he visited five hospitals throughout the country, where he attended lectures, reviewed cases, discussed research and surgical techniques with Japanese surgeons. The work and discussions mostly focused on breast cancer, Grobmyer’s specialty. He also participated in the 112th Annual Congress of the Japan Surgical Society in Chiba City.
“They are doing some innovative things, surgically, in Japan that I think that we can learn from and we can adapt to our practice here,” he said. “It’s nice to understand how other people approach the same problems that we have.”
Grobmyer said it’s also interesting to learn how some diseases that afflict people in both countries vary between the two nations.
The purpose of the fellowship, he said is to “facilitate … scientific and surgical collaboration” between Japanese and American surgeons. Each year, the Japan Surgical Society sends a surgeon to the U.S. for a similar trip.